Chapter 12
That day came sooner than I thought. It came on a Tuesday. One of the darkest Tuesdays in my life. Because it destroyed my life.
I woke up in the morning in Will's arms, a habit we had started when we realized how much we cared about each other. It was a very normal morning, just a routine. A hearty breakfast, hard workouts, time with friends to unwind. Everything was going well. Until that famous moment.
We were scouting the area around our camp, which we did from time to time, to see if the soldiers were getting close to us. We knew that one day we would have to leave this quiet house to face the real world. But what we saw that day was beyond belief.
It started when Will heard voices in the distance. We all moved as quietly as possible, hidden behind the trees in the forest. And then I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. My sister was there, surrounded by soldiers. She did not look like a prisoner. On the contrary, she was talking to them as if the situation was completely normal. But I knew, in my soul, that something was wrong. At least I had confirmation that she was not dead. But that didn't make me feel any better. What they were doing to her was surely worse.
Suddenly, I saw her pupils and I understood. She had the same as me, colored a golden glow. But while I had survived the process by some miracle I couldn't explain, my sister was not so lucky. I could tell by the way she moved and spoke. She looked like a robot, not a normal person. And it was all my fault. I couldn't leave her like that, and here with all these soldiers who were plotting I don't know what without our consent, without the consent of the whole people. They had to be stopped. I couldn't just sit back and do nothing while my sister was no longer herself.
I may have made an irrational decision at the time, but my brain was focused on only one thing: saving my sister. After all, she had sacrificed herself for me, and it was my duty to protect her from this, to heal her from whatever it was that had changed the color of her eyes and the purest soul I knew.
Coming out of the cover of my tree, I approached her as quietly as I could, to get closer to her. However, I was stopped by a hand on my elbow.
"What are you doing?" Will called me, whispering.
Except that he had taken me by surprise and my foot stepped on a twig. The sound echoed through the forest, waking the birds and drawing attention to us. The soldiers looked back at our hiding place, and by the looks on their faces, we were done for.
"Run!" Will suddenly shouted at us. "Save yourselves!"
Will was still holding me. I met his eyes and saw that he considered all this to be my fault. And even though I knew he was right, at the time, I was smokin'. I broke free from his grip with all the strength I had and ran towards my sister. I was not disturbed by anyone, the soldiers having left after my friends.
"Kate, Kate," I said, taking her hands. "Tell me you're still in there. Tell me you're still in there with me."
"Let go, I don't know you," she replied.
"I'm your sister, Kate. Chloe, don't you remember?" I said, tears starting to well up in the corners of my eyes.
"Let go of me, right now," she began to shout.
"But Kate, I'm your sister. We like to fight sometimes, but it's because we both love each other. You know I would do anything for you and you for me, and right now I need you, Kate. Because you're a strong person and you would never let anything happen to me. Because you care about me. So please come back," I cried, tears streaming down my face. "Come back!"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know you," she shook her head. "I am not your sister, you must be mistaken."
"No, how can you say that? They gave you something, and it changed you. It even changed the color of your eyes. Remember that!"
I didn't have time to say anything else. Some soldiers had returned and were going to surround me from all sides. I had to leave. And though it tore at my heart, I couldn't save my sister if I was taken prisoner. Taking one last look at the girl standing in front of me, I vowed to find her and save her. Then I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. I heard footsteps behind me, probably the soldiers who had seen me rush off. However, after a few minutes, or a few hours, I had lost track of time, and all I heard was my breath and my racing heartbeat. I had lost them. So I headed for home, hoping to find the others safe and sound.
Chapter 13
When I finally arrived at the little house, I heard no sound. On my guard, I approached at a snail's pace, afraid that a soldier had entered our refuge. When I got to the living room, I felt a surge of relief. My friends were there, sitting on the couch, bruised here and there but safe. Except for Rachel.
"Where's Rachel?" I asked point-blank.
"She got caught," Will shouted. "And it's all your fault!"
"What?" I said, stunned. "Is this a joke? What happened?"
I didn't want to listen to Will's accusations, partly because he was right. And partly because this news came as a shock. It couldn't have been. The soldiers couldn't have taken Rachel hostage. No, not because of me.
"We're not sure how it happened," Liam told me, holding a devastated Laura in his arms. "We were running from the soldiers, but she had to separate from us at some point. We didn't pay attention. I heard a scream. And she never came back. Just like you, until now. We thought they took you too."
"How can we be sure she's not still in the forest?"
"She should have been back by now, she knows the procedure and she's not selfish in like someone else here," Will replied.
"Stop it, Will!" said Max. "You can't blame Chloe. We were too close. We knew the risks. We all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. And there were too many of them, we didn't stand a chance. It's a good thing most of us were safe."
"She's the one who had us spotted," the blond man suddenly shouted. "All this for nothing!"
"For nothing? It was my sister who was standing between the soldiers, I couldn't stand by and watch."
"Your sister? What do you mean your sister?" asked Liam.
"Yes, it was my sister who was there, under their control, because of their stupid serum. I couldn't leave her there," I replied. "She sacrificed herself for me the last time I saw her."
This left a gap in the conversation. I could see from their eyes that they understood my reaction, but that didn't change the facts. Rachel had probably been captured by the soldiers we saw in the forest and of course we were compromised. They knew we were there, somewhere close to them. And they would come for us sooner or later. It was inevitable.
Chapter 14
Exhausted and devastated, I headed for my room, Will hot on my heels. I didn't really want to talk to him, knowing the mood he was in. But it was inevitable. So I turned back to him, half-ready to confront him.
"You acted irrationally and put us in danger, do you realize that?"
"Yes, I know, and believe me, I am suffering the consequences. I left my sister behind, again, and I'm worried about Rachel. I'm imagining the worst scenarios for her," I said with tears in my eyes.
"I don't think you realize the consequences you've created. You have no idea. The government is coming for us, for all of us, and we're not ready for them. You got us into a lot of trouble," Will said.
"That was my sister. She's the only family I have left, I had to at least try to save her."
"What about us? What are we to you?" said the young man, raising his voice and coming closer to me.
"It's not the same thing. (I took a moment to compose myself and calm down, to no avail). You've been training me for over two months to be able to fight them and instead of taking our chance, we ran away so they could find us more easily afterwards. We should fight. You promised me!" I shouted back.
"You're not ready to face them, believe me."
"I've made a lot of progress, you know that. And then what? You want to wait here forever? That we live in hiding forever? That's not living, that's surviving and I'm sick of it! This is not a life."
"We'll stay here as long as we can and then we'll move, because no one is ready to face them," Will said, taking my arm strongly. "There aren't enough of us against them, we're not prepared enough, not strong enough. They have tools, serums more powerful than the one they used on your sister."
"And how do you know all this, huh? Why are you just telling us now? Maybe that's why we're not ready. Because you're not telling us anything."
"You promised you wouldn't ask me about my secrets, that it was okay with you!"
"But this changes everything, if it concerns our survival, you have to tell us, Will," I begged him.
"No, I can't. I just can't, don't ask me to tell you, please."
Seeing his face, terrified and guilty, I backed off. I didn't know how he had learned all this, but I could see that his secret(s) were costing him. And that scared me. If he didn't want to tell us, it was for a good reason. A reason that made me wonder about his role in all this. What if he knew all this because he had helped the government create their serums? He knew far too much not to be involved. And even if he had the good sense to run away and help the survivors, I couldn't trust him as long as he kept everything to himself.
The thought tore apart my heart. Not only had I lost my sister and Rachel, I had lost him. It was time for me to act. I couldn't lose anyone else. My soul couldn't take it. So there was only one thing left for me to do: complete my project without anyone's help. But I was going to need a solid plan.
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